Gorongosa Behind the Scenes

October 11, 2012

By Constance Taylor (Gorongosa Lion Project)

Here are some pictures from the remote, action-triggered cams we've been placing around the water holes. And when we say waterhole we really mean "pan", or an isolated body of water. It's the peak of the dry season here in Central Mozambique and we're putting up these cams at pans because they're some of the last remaining water sources, and we suspect most animals come here at some point in the day to drink.

We've sifted through thousands upon thousands of photos so far, and we have cams out in the park right now clicking away and recording even more pictures for us to look through. The following images are what we thought were the best shots of the wildlife around the pans so far. Enjoy!

This picture is actually not at a pan- we also put cams on fresher carcasses we find in the field to see what animals are scavenging them. We suspect this bushbuck died of heatstroke of some sort; it was the day after a scorcher when we came across this bushbuck and a few other animals that had no visible physical trauma (i.e. lion attack, etc). Like we mentioned above, it's the peak of the dry season here and that means some animals just don't make it through.

One of our more creative camera setups. We usually try to tie them on trees, but when there aren't any around we have to get artistic! The thorny acacia branches around the bottom of the stake are to discourage warthogs rubbing against (and knocking down) the whole assembly.